“We’ve tried over the years to make monster movies — unsuccessfully, actually,” she said. “So[…]we settled upon an idea, which is to take it out of the horror genre, put it more in the action-adventure genre and make it present day.”

In particular, Langley noted that “We have to mine our resources. We don’t have any capes,” in reference to the popularity of superheroes in rival studios.

Originally, Dracula Untold was to be a standalone movie; with the decision to reboot the Monsters franchise, an extra scene was added, set in the present day and hinting at a continuation in the subsequent films.